Woman held in the death of her son

Boy dropped on his head, officials say

July 06, 2004|By John Biemer, Tribune staff reporter.

A Chicago woman using drugs repeatedly beat her 2-year-old son with a belt, causing him to fall forward and knock his face on a radio and then she dropped him on his head three times, a prosecutor said Monday.

Verna Colbert, 31, of the 7100 block of South Lowe Avenue, was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the Saturday morning death of her son, Varrien Colbert, said Chicago Police Sgt. Robert Cargie. Cook County Circuit Judge Colleen Hyland ordered her held without bail Monday because Colbert could be eligible for the death penalty.

"This was an exceptionally brutal and heinous incident," said Cook County Assistant State's Atty. Barbara Dawkins.

Colbert was smoking a marijuana cigarette laced with cocaine late Friday, Dawkins said, when the boy woke up. He turned on the television, angering his mother. She beat him with a belt, slapped him in the face, and dropped him on his head, Dawkins said.

Colbert described her actions in a written statement, Dawkins said.

Colbert went back to smoking, but when she later shook the toddler he was unresponsive, Dawkins said. Colbert took him from the house where she'd been staying to his father, who had legal custody, Dawkins said.

The boy died at 5:10 a.m. Saturday in St. Bernard Hospital, almost an hour after he was taken there from his father's home in the 7200 block of South Union Avenue, police said.

An autopsy performed Sunday concluded that Varrien died of multiple injuries, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Verna Colbert was on parole for possession of a controlled substance, Dawkins said. She had six prior convictions, all related to narcotics, Dawkins said.

According to the Department of Children and Family Services, Colbert lost custody of Varrien in September 2001, less than a month after he was born. The father, who lived apart from the mother, was granted custody. Colbert had two other children taken from her in December 1998, a DCFS spokeswoman said.

A tip to the DCFS hotline at 9:12 a.m. Saturday, just hours after Varrien died, kicked off an investigation into whether the father had allowed Colbert to have contact with their son.